Improvement in filters



Einheit gta-tet strat Letters Patent No. 104,987, dated July 5, 1870.

, IMPRO'VEMENI.l IN FILTERS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same To all whom it may concern:

Figure 1 is apfront elevation of my improved boiler lter;

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the tanks or reservoirs through the linea-x, fig. 1;

Figure 3 shows my arrangement of the boiler-snpply pipe 'inside the condenser of a low-pressure engine, a part of the side -of the condenser being broken away;

igure 4 is a rear-end elevation ofthe boiler-filter; an

Figure 5 is a side elevation of the same.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts in each.l

As many of our rivers passv through beds of clay, and other like soils, a great deal of sedimentary matter is taken up by and carried along with the water. This water, when taken into the boilers ot' steamboats, deposits the sediment therein, in such quantities as to make it a matter of very series diiculty and expense to keep them in working order, which difficulty and expense it is the object of my invention to obviate.

First, in the arrangementabove the boiler of a se ries of reservoirs or tanks, each one opening into the adjoining one by gates, alternately arranged, andso forming a connected series throughout; the bottom of the tanks slanting from their'outcr ends, so that their lowest point Shall be at or near the center, from which lowest points of the tanks connections are made to a mud-drum, which extends along under the tanks.

Second, in the arrangement of the boiler-suppl y pipes, leading from the tank into the boiler.

To enable others skilled in the art to make fand use my invention, I will describe its'construct-ion and operation.

On each side of an ordinary steam-boiler, a, or at other suitable point, Iplace .a force-pump, b. Leading upward from the chambers of the pumps b b into a tank, c, above the boiler, are two water-pipes, b b', which are connected together at their upper ends in the tank c, and discharge into the tank c through a short pipe, b,

The tank c is one of a series of similartanks, which vare placed side by side, as shown in iig. 2, andare supported vby the standards d. They lie at right angles with lthe boiler,`and their bottomsV slant downward from their outer ends, as at c2, so that their lowest part, c", is in t-he middle, directly overtheboiler. Leading down from their lowest part c.into al mud-drum, which, running along yunder the tanks, lies parallel with the boiler, are short pipes e, one from each tank, for carrying off the sediment deposited in the tanks, by the water.

The tanks c communicate with each other by openings g in their alternate ends, or at any suitable points between their ends, but alternately arranged, so that when the water is pumped into the Ilirst tank c, and flows through the holes g, iig. 2, it will have to trav-- erse the length of the seco-nd one before 'it enters tho third, and-so on through thc whole series.

Passing down 'from the bottom of the last tank, c', but outside the limits of the sediment-ary deposits, are two pipes, h h, one on each side of the boilerl u, one of which enters the condenser i, andthe other the condenser i', and -there connect with a system of pipes, k, as shown in fig. 3, which, in their turn, are

- connected with the pipes l l, that run down and open into the chambers otl two force-pumps, m m.

The force-pumps m m stand, one on each side of the back end of the boiler, and operate to force the water,

taken from the tank c1, in the manner just described, through the pipes m m', into and through the pipe q, which, after traversing the boiler from end to end, discharges into the mud-drum a, that stands under and opens into the boiler in the usual manner.

' The operation is as follows:

The water is pumped from the river by the pumps b b, which are operated in any convenientmanner, forced up through the pipes b b', which, it is seen, pass through and act as supports for the forward ends of the condensers t t" into the first tank c. From this tank it passes through the holes y', which are situated near the top of the tanks, so as to be above the heavier portion of the sediment ary matter, into the next tank, traversing this one; it tlows through the openings into the next; and so on unt-il it reaches the last tank c1.

My arrangement of the tanks c and openings g operates so ettectually to deposit thc sediment, that, by' the time the water reaches the last tank c, it is almost entirely free from it. The water passes from the tank c1 down through the pipes h 71. into the systems h' k inside th'e condensers.

`This arrangement, whereby the water is made to traverse the condensers, is'for the purpose of heating it before it is introduced into the boiler, so that it may neither injure the boiler, nor seriously lower the teinperature of the Water in it. From the systems It ki'b passes down through the pipes llinto the force-pumps m an, and, by them, is forced through the pipes fm m" and q (the latter of which traverses the boilerand ends in the mud-drum n) into the mnd-drum a. From this drum the water, becoming more perfectly heated, rises into'nthe boiler, leaving behind, in the drum, any sediment that may have reached that point.

The sedimentary matter deposited in the tanks c settles down into the mud-drum f through the short tubes e. I'Vhen the-drum gets full it can be emptied by being blown out in the usual way. If' I desire to keep the water at a certain level in the tanks, I gauge the pipe o so that the surplus shall run oi through it. The upper elbow end of this pipe is movable, so that it can be adj usted to carry ol'the water at a higher or lower elevation. In case of ire,I can turn the whole force of the water into the pipe p, by shutting oi' the escape through the short pipe b, by means of a stopcock, fr; then, if ahose is attached to the pipe p, the water can be directed to any part of the boat.

A pipe, such as s, may lead down from any one of the tanks, for supplying ivater for culinary or other purposes.

The tanks c may be made in other shapes, the one shown being adopted-merely as a convenient and suitable one.

What Iclaim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A series of tanks, c c1, arranged over a Vsteamboat-boiler, side by side, communicating by holes g,

arranged out of line, such tanks having bottoms o", in-

clined vto a depression, c, substantially as described.

2. The subject matter of the foregoing claim, in

combination with the force-pumps b h, elevating pipes b b', and discharge-pipes'b", substantially as and for the purposes set forth.A

3. The subject matter of the first claim, in combination with the pipes e and mud-drum j', arranged substantially as set forth.

4. A series of feed-water heating pipes, k, arranged have hereunto set my hand.

JOSEPH NIXON.

Witnesses:

WM. F. GRAHAM, THos. B. KEER. 

